By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s Normal Town Council meeting lasted close to 4 hours. It started with a conga line of Uptown supporters, most (if not all) connected to government. 2 objectors to the Fiala payoff were conveniently placed at the end of Public Comment. It started at 8:00 if you want to watch. On […]
By: Diane Benjamin Stan Nord has tried to reach out to fellow Trustees who claim to care about taxpayers. Scott Preston was one of those. Think back to this story: https://blnnews.com/2019/07/31/did-chris-koos-lie/ Preston knew before the rest of the Council that Chris Koos wasn’t telling the truth about Nord going “lone wolf” because Preston was copied […]
By: Diane Benjamin One person responded to Kathleen Lorenz’s survey with more information than requested. He accuses Kathleen of campaigning one way on issues and then changing after being reelected. Then he goes on to call Stan Nord “not a nice guy” and a “bully”. Jeff must prefer politicians that misrepresent their positions to get […]
By: Diane Benjamin Stan Nord has been trying to fix a few things in Normal since before he was elected. Everybody should know by now the Town has been throwing away taxpayer dollars paying property taxes they don’t owe. Stan has tried to bring some other Council members into the discussion in an attempt to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Everything below was received by FOIA. I received another treasure trove of emails – stay tuned. Remember this note Mayor Koos sent to Bloomington and leaked to the media? This note was in the Pantagraph on July 17th. https://blnnews.com/2019/07/31/did-chris-koos-lie/ On July 26th, Stan Nord sent proof to the Mayor and the entire […]
By: Diane Benjamin At least they are in Normal! Remember how Mayor Koos shut down Stan Nord over expenses because bills listed have already been paid? Auditors make sure the numbers are in the right columns and the required footnotes and disclosures are included in financial statements. The don’t look for fraud and they certainly […]
Update: https://blnnews.com/2019/08/13/assessor-response-received/ By: Diane Benjamin Evidently the Town of Normal does. This property is at 1217 Adelaide: The Town of Normal bought it in 2015 and has been paying property taxes on it ever since. The property should be EXEMPT – not rocket science! So far the Town has wasted: Pam Reece knows and has […]
By: Diane Benjamin I wonder if Chris Koos will try to blame Stan Nord for this: This is yet another company who contacted Stan. They can turn the mural into a digital picture and save taxpayers a lot of money. Stan forwarded the information to City Manager Pam Reece: Have you noticed how Stan continually protects people […]
By: Diane Benjamin CIRBN is registered with Secretary of State as an LLC – Limited Liability Corporation. They call themselves a Public Utility and claimed tax exempt status as a 501(c)(3). In 2017 they had an operating loss of $778,891 but claim to have assets of $11,907,431. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/461304666/201812419349300236/IRS990 This is CIRBN in short: The Obama […]
By: Diane Benjamin Trustees Karyn Smith and Chemberly Cummings were absent. The easiest way to recap last night’s meeting is by topic. Readers can jump in the video to topics of interest to them. The meeting finale was priceless, don’t miss it. 4:00 – Stan Nord removes B-H on the Omnibus Agenda. Chris Koos is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is another issue I learned about only because of emails I received by FOIA from the Town of Normal. Original story: https://blnnews.com/2019/08/01/the-foia-email-treasure-trove/ Frequently it feels like government doesn’t care about money until they need more of it. Of course, they know where to get it. In Normal we frequently hear about […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two of this weeks top read stories were about Koos lying to the media. I hope you noticed the media hasn’t issued a correction! I don’t know how you could have missed these stories, but if you did: https://blnnews.com/2019/07/31/did-chris-koos-lie/ https://blnnews.com/2019/07/31/did-chris-koos-lie-part-2/ Last night I was wondering what possesses a supposed public servant to […]
By: Diane Benjamin We know why Stan Nord is being attacked in Normal – anyone actually representing citizens always has been. January 24, 2008 Pantagraph Headline: Officials not allowing city workers to talk with council members https://www.pantagraph.com/news/officials-not-allowing-city-workers-to-talk-with-council-members/article_f4228b0d-8f16-5899-b640-0ef103ab4ba3.html The first line: Since I know you can read, click the link and see the rest for yourself. […]
By: Diane Benjamin It could take a long time to report everything I received with a FOIA of emails between Stan Nord and Normal City Manager Pam Reece. One thing obvious is she doesn’t approve of Stan looking at what she and the “professional staff” do. Pam thinks Stan’s job is setting policy, not looking […]
By: Diane Benjamin See Part 1: https://blnnews.com/2019/07/31/did-chris-koos-lie/ The second issue in Koos’ letter pertained to fire stations. Stan Nord had been looking at why Bloomington and Normal couldn’t have a joint east side fire station since both want one: Pam Reece’s reply: See the document here: Fire Department Study The real question should have been: Why […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when the media did a story Chris Koos evidently fed to them about Stan Nord going rogue? Koos wrote a letter to Tari Renner and the media ended up with it. https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/koos-nord-acted-alone-to-poach-bloomington-business/article_aeff8b7c-78a3-5e32-b1ef-f65e4e81f812.html Let’s start with Koos’ first claim: a Normal Council member went “lone wolf” to recruit across borders. I had […]
By. Diane Benjamin This sage started with a planted story at WGLT, it needed 3 reporters to write it: koos-says-nord-went-lone-wolf-fire-department-merger-uptown-recruitment Then it got funnier when the Pantagraph decided it was news: koos-nord-acted-alone-to-poach-bloomington-business Somebody please check on Chris. Make sure he isn’t suicidal or buying a gun. He’s obviously lost his mind over Stan Nord. […]
By: Diane Benjamin In the past elected Trustees were just rubber stamps. Since the election, Koos is losing control. Has Chris Koos ever read Illinois law? Read the last line Mr. Mayor: At last night’s meeting Koos stated (15:32) the bills listed with the agenda have already been paid. He expects the Trustees to just […]
By: Diane Benjamin There is a war between the old guard and the newly elected members of the Council in Normal. Koos and company are not happy! Chris: Stan and Karyn were elected because the taxpayers are sick of your $35,000+ a month rent in Uptown Circle, the $2.75 million you handed the developer to […]
By: Diane Benjamin It looks like this lease will not be coming back to the Council. The taxpayers of Normal deserve to know how this “friends and family” rate got on the agenda in the first place. Taxpayers dodged a huge bullet on this one. Details in this story from the last time this item […]
By: Diane Benjamin I read more of the massive FOIA request I received from the Town of Normal concerning the failure of Chris Koos to appoint a representative to the Connect Transit Board. In addition to the FIVE people listed in this story: https://blnnews.com/2019/06/26/koos-fib/ I found a few more forwarded to Koos by Judy Buchanan […]
By: Diane Benjamin Connect Transit appeared at both City Council meetings last night. Isaac Thorne, General Manager, didn’t hang around the Bloomington meeting for long. He rushed off needlessly to Normal since he wasn’t on the agenda until after public comment and regular business. He could have answered more questions from the Bloomington Council. The […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the $100 a month lease for the property at 305 S. Linden? Remember Normal was going to pay $5000 to have internet installed? Normal would be forced to pay property taxes on that property too, the rent likely would not have covered both the taxes and internet. (See original story: https://blnnews.com/2019/04/14/is-normal-handing-out-a-cheap-lease/) […]
Part 2: https://blnnews.com/2019/06/04/normal-part-2/ By: Diane Benjamin Before Stan Nord and Karyn Smith were elected, Normal’s Council meeting last night would have lasted 3 minutes. There was no business on the agenda to be discussed. A Trustee would have motioned to pass the Omnibus Agenda the others would have fought over who could “second” it the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Stan Nord was on WJBC this morning with Scott Miller. The article below only recaps the conversation they had about Connect Transit. Nord also explained why he paid the tap-on fees instead of filing a lawsuit. The conversation ended with Stan asking both Bloomington and Normal to eliminate their Local Motor Fuel […]
By: Diane Benjamin Step back to last Friday – Tari Renner’s Open House. Both WJBC and the Pantagraph had reporters there, they failed to do a story on what happened or Tari’s racist comment. They have now allowed time for Tari to formulate a response. Lost in this conversation are the people who attended to […]
By: Diane Benjamin The citizens vote for people to represent them. Those representatives then don’t attend meetings. The ones that do pretend it’s perfectly normal for members to be absent. Do they still get paid? Citizens don’t have a right to know why their elected official is MIA? Last night it was Chris Koos. Was […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3296 This paragraph is in the minutes to be approved at Monday night’s meeting. They reflect part of the Connect Transit discussion from the prior meeting. If you remember, Stan Nord wanted some accountability for the money Normal pays them. Did you know that once an item is in the budget it […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos buddy Dave Shields is livid he got beat in the last election. See 12:50. He decided to tear into Stan Nord for “lying” at Public Comment. Hey Dave – you said New York leads the states in out migration. According to this link New York is 4th, New Jersey is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos didn’t get the lesson from two years ago when he only defeated Marc Tiritilli by 11 votes. Last night the voters in Normal sent a baseball bat to the head message: We demand a new direction! Two of the top three winners took on the Koos and company agenda, Stan […]
By: Diane Benjamin If 10% of voters in Bloomington bother to vote I will be surprised! Turnout is making elections a waste of time. I voted this morning. Eight races were listed – only one had a choice. I leave uncontested races blank since my vote doesn’t matter anyway. Yes, we will end up losing […]
I asked WGLT to include me on their candidate page and got zero response. No big surprise there. WGLT Voter Guide 2019 . But in looking over the other Normal Town Council candidates’ responses I found something very interesting… . If you start at the top and click on RC, it contains his answers to a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Is WGLT attempting to deceive voters? Is their General Manager, who is on the ballot, behind it? It’s corrupt enough WGLT controlled the debate with the Normal candidates, since RC McBride works for them, they should have recused themselves. It gets worse! Karl Sila was not allowed to participate in the debate […]
By: Diane Benjamin The WGLT story about last night’s Normal Town Council meeting doesn’t mention RC McBride voted for the water rate increase: http://www.wglt.org/post/water-fee-increase-solar-group-buy-making-repeat-appearances-normal Readers are left to surmise he did. This one is worse: I reported this story back on February 28: https://blnnews.com/2019/02/28/ag-investigating-town-of-normal-again/ WJBC reported it on March 4: http://www.wjbc.com/2019/03/04/normal-mayor-probed-for-alleged-open-meetings-act-violations/?fbclid=IwAR0mVvQsAVBRPrRVSWllpx_YPGc2YvMk0iHXYXWS0AWvxrBG0FXLxYbmvCg The […]
By: Diane Benjamin What would happen to freedom if an election was held and nobody showed up to vote? I predict VERY low turnout on April 2nd. Except for the Town of Normal, few other races are even contested. Unit 5 residents will have much higher property tax bills this year. When fiscally responsible candidates […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this previous story: https://blnnews.com/2019/02/22/will-bloomington-elect-socialists/ If you didn’t think the Normal Town Council is already socialist – it could get worse. I really appreciate socialist Sonny Garcia posting on social media which candidates fit that plan: He listed the candidates voters need to avoid: Alex Campbell, Joel Studebaker, and Pat Turner. The […]
By: Diane Benjamin Stan is running for the Normal Town Council. Meet him tonight! He actually wants to hear from you, unlike the current Council.
The first public comment speaker was Karyn Smith (not Karen) – also a candidate for Normal Town Council. Other than her comments last night I don’t know anything else about her – yet. By: Diane Benjamin When Chris Koos began public comment he made clear he would time limit the speakers so they could get […]
Press Release November 18, 2018 Stan Nord to run for Normal Town Council Stan Nord is pleased to announce his candidacy for Normal Town Council in the consolidated election on April 2nd, 2019. He has prepared the necessary filings and is excited to start the campaign process. He looks forward to presenting his views on […]
